There are a lot of misconceptions about humility. Most of us become familiar with the term through the idiom ‘to eat humble pie’ when we need to apologize for an error. But true humility isn’t groveling or even being fearful, shy, or retiring. It doesn’t mean always putting the other guy ahead of you. Humility isn’t something you decide you want and then develop it overnight. Humility requires experience, openness, and a willingness to take chances and to make mistakes – and sometimes to even look publicly dull.

As real businesspeople experience a veritable roller coaster ride of failures, bankruptcies, and breakdowns, they begin to discover the profoundly curvy and unpredictable lines of all these business lives. Those messy lines help create humility (Moltz, 2008, p. 54-55).